"As the Republican candidate for House District 32 Representative, I am calling for a revamping of the domestic abuse laws in Rhode Island. My goal is twofold: (1) End the ability to have domestic abuse incidents expunged from a person's criminal records, and (2) Reclassify second domestic abuse violations as felonies. Currently they are considered misdemeanors," said Sharon Gamba.

Domestic abusers are among the most violent people in our society. As a class, they have more criminal records, more violence and assault charges and are at higher risk to re-offend than are non-domestic violent offenders. To make matters worse, a Violence Research Foundation study revealed that as many as 75% of homes that experience 'intimate partner violence' have battered children also."It is for reasons like these we must revisit and reclassify how we present these people to the rest of society," Gamba continued. "Society can't have laws that shield them from those who innocently wander across their path or into their webs of violence. Laws are supposed to protect society's innocents from society's predators," said GambaSharon concluded: "I am making it one of my first legislative priorities to eliminate the ability for society's worst predators to hide in plain sight. In my opinion, if you abuse a woman or child, you should never be allowed to return to society with a clean bill ofhealth. You should be forced to live with your actions for as long as your victims must live with the trauma they caused. And that would be forever."